The Promise

Chapter 1.

Chapter 1.
November 1943.
Poland

Erik watched the bleary landscape from the car window as it drove down the muddy road. The view was far from flattering. Naked trees sticking out from a mud covered earth that had a few rotting leaves scattered about here and there. A chill clung to the air and somehow managed to penetrate through the thick wool of his winter uniform. He rubbed his hands together in an attempt to warm them.

"It's rotten weather," Kommandant Frtiz Schultz, who sat in the passenger seat beside him, commented. "It won't look so miserable once the snow comes. And just wait for summer, then the landscape becomes really beautiful."

Erik gave a slight nod. He was in no mood to talk. His brother, however, seemed determined to keep the conversation going.

"On the bright side, at least you're no longer on the Eastern Front. I'll bet the snow is knee deep in Russia right now."

"It does get bitterly cold in the winter," Erik replied, his attention still focused on the window. "The men aren't used to such freezing conditions. The winters aren't half as cold in Germany. I fear the Eastern Front will be our downfall."

For a reply he received a hard blow to his shoulder. "Lagerführer Erik Schultz, you dare!" Fritz snapped. "Mind your words! The army of the  Führer is undefeatable. Western for Eastern front, Northern or Southern, it doesn't matter. We'll conquer it all."

Erik rolled his eyes. "That's easy for you to say," he muttered under his breath. "You never were at the Eastern front...or any front at all for that matter."

"We're almost at the house," Fritz's voice became calm and pleasant again. "As a high ranking officer you won't have to stay at the barracks. Greta has probably already got a nice hot dinner on the stove. Hans and Herman are excited to meet you, and you'll never recognize Margareth, she's grown so much since you last saw her. Oh and Johanna of course. That sister of ours was transferred here a year ago. Now with you our sibling family is complete."

Erik made no reply. His silence obviously irked his brother. Fritz reached again and gave his brother a bit of a shove.
"Erik, Father had to pull a lot of strings to keep you front returning to the Eastern Front. He had to pull even more strings to have you promoted. You're not going back to the fighting and the killing. It's all easy now. Show some gratitude and stop moping about. Do you know how many would kill to be in your place?"

"I never asked for any of it," Erik returned. "And anyway, I was supposed to get transferred to Holland. I wanted to go to Holland."

"It's not about who wants what, alright? Father needs you to serve at Auschwitz. There are few who can be trusted to come here. Now, we're at the house already, step out of the car with a smile on that face and let's go greet the family."

Erik obediently stepped out of the car but without the smile. The chauffeur opened the back to pull out the luggage. As he waited for his suitcase Eric glanced at his reflection in the car window. The new black SS uniform looked foreign on him. In his mind he was still Erik Schultz, Major of the 5th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht. A decorated war hero and a celebrated fighter known for his courage, he had expected to be sent back to the front now that he had recovered from the wound that had sent him back home in the first place. Everyone was always saying they needed more soldiers like him on the front.

But Father had other plans. Maybe it had been the scars on his face, the gray in his blond hair, the lost look in the light blue eyes. Maybe it had been the scare of how many times he had been a breath away from death in the four years he had spent fighting on different fronts. Whatever the reason his father, SS-Obergruppenführer Axel Schultz, decided his youngest son had enough of battles and fighting. From one day to the next Erik found himself being given a long lecture from his father and then he was made to take an oath of loyalty after which found himself promoted to SS-Totenkopfverbänd, the same unit his father, brother, and sister belonged to. Once all this was completed he fully expected to be sent to Amsterdam to take up duties there. Instead he was told to sign of document of confidentiality, board a train bound for Katowice, and report to the Kommandant of Auschwitz, who also just happened to be his older brother. That was how he had ended up at Fritz's home, which was several miles from the camp itself.